InfoSci®-Journals Annual Subscription Price for New Customers: As Low As US$ 4,950

This collection of over 175 e-journals offers unlimited access to highly-cited, forward-thinking content in full-text PDF and XML with no DRM. There are no platform or maintenance fees and a guarantee of no more than 5% increase annually.

Receive the complimentary e-books for the first, second, and third editions with the purchase of the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition e-book. Plus, take 20% off when purchasing directly through IGI Global's Online Bookstore.

Take 20% Off All Publications Purchased Directly Through the IGI Global Online Bookstore: www.igi-global.com/

Abstract

“Big ideas” drive the disciplines. In biology, the insights of Darwin generated evolutionary theory. In chemistry, Mendeleev’s vision of the organization of elements predicted subsequent discoveries. In computing, the database and associated database management systems (DBMS) are one of the “big ideas”. The database was conceptually possible prior to the development of the computer, but it was the digital computer that made the database the common tool it is today. The core idea of the database is distinguishing between the data description and the data itself. Among other things, this idea makes the Web possible and has made manageable new fields for discovery, such as modeling the human genome.